1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anchor which can be easily separated from massive obstacles on the bottom of a body of water to be ready for anchor raising operation even if it is caught by any obstacles, such as roots or ledges of rocks or submerged timbers or like.
2. Related Art Statement
It might often arise a case where an anchor becomes snagged by roots, rocks or like to make it impossible to raise the anchor to the boat. In order to release the anchor and to bring the same in the condition for easy raising, I have previously proposed an anchor arrangement. The anchor arrangement according to my previous proposal, comprises a flexible rope having a free end, retaining device for detachably retaining the free end of the rope and being attached to the rope and normally held at a position separated from the free end of the rope by a certain distance, an anchor attached to the rope and having a shank and at least one grasping means (fluke in one embodiment) extending backwardly from one end of the shank for grasping a rock at the bottom of a body of water. The shank of the anchor is attached to the rope so that the one end formed with the fluke is positioned remoter from the free end of the rope. The arrangement further comprises means for opening the retaining device so that the free end of the rope is released therefrom in readiness for the anchor raising operation, upon impingement or striking by a weight.
The anchor arrangement of my prior proposal is disclosed in my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/865,115 which was filed while claiming a Convention Priority based on Japanese Patent Appln. No. 115232/1985 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 275085/1986), and a corresponding European patent application was also filed and given with EPC No. 86303937.6. This is also disclosed in my Japanese Patent Appln. No. 173924/1986. The specification of the aforementioned U.S. patent application will be incorporated herein as a reference.
In my previous arrangement, a tension for anchoring a boat or ship is transmitted through a main anchoring line or rope which is connected to one end of the shank remote from the end on which flukes are mounted under normal anchoring condition, and a pulling force is transmitted through an auxiliary rope or anchor retrieving line which is connected to the crown end of the shank on which the flukes are mounted to pull the flukes in the direction for separating them from the obstacles which catch them to hinder the anchor to be raised.
However, this arrangement has a disadvantage that the length of the anchor retrieving line connected to the crown end of the shank becomes too long and tends to cling to the flukes or other parts of the anchor as the anchor is thrown into water. Another disadvantage of the anchor device of my previous proposal is that the pulling force needed for separating the flukes of the anchor from the massive obstacles is transmitted through the main anchoring line to the relatively weak auxiliary line, even when a considerably high pulling force is needed for releasing the flukes which are caught, for example, by roots or submerged timbers of complicated shape. In order that the anchor retrieving line has sufficient strength for withstanding such relatively high tension or pulling force, it is necessary to use a relatively thick rope to increase the volume of the auxiliary rope.